In press

We were surprised to find that Lauren showed up in The New Era (our church's worldwide youth magazine) this month in the feature they did on the pioneer trek we did last year in our area.  It was fun to relive some of the memories + to have such a nice moment with her friend Ian captured in print.

Lauren is in the yellow bonnet, pulling the handcart

And then, in a freaky coincidence, we found that Sam was in the Friend (the children's magazine) for this same month for a little service project he and the other children did last year at the Old North Bridge.

Sam's in the red shirt on the bridge

You'd think we hired agents or something! Two children featured, three children in our family. Hmmm. Way to mess with our slippery + tentative balance of sibling equity, church magazines! (Luckily, Miss M didn't have a Marcia, Marcia, Marcia moment at all.) 

In a nutshell

(the one where I catch up with June)

1. Maddy was invited to the Taylor Swift/Justin Bieber concert (the last one on the tour) but then the mom couldn't go. So I took Maddy and friend. Oh, the decibels! But it was great fun.

(They wore fabulous red lipstick for the occasion, of course.)

2. We've been in sports watching frenzy mode all month long. Celtics (sob), World Cup games (I hear buzzing just thinking about it), Wimbledon (oh that cute Isner playing one set for 3 days). 

3. I hung some pictures in our house! It only took 3 years of indecision. And, even so, there will be changes, I'm sure. 

4. Maddy graduated from middle school (more to come on that) and attended the traditional 8th grade semi-formal. I'm impressed by what a good sport she is about finding a dress that is her spunky style and modest at the same time. 

 5. I have learned, again and again, how important exercise is for my mood/energy/life/brain. I am starting to consider it a daily vitamin.  Still loving my 4-mile loop. And, some mornings, playing tennis with Greg, Maddy, or Sam. 

6. I saw Toy Story 3 with Sam the day it opened. We cried. (See it!) 

7. Sam left on his very first scout camp this week. He's excited to sleep in a hammock every night, pass off his environmental science and swimming merit badges, and shower only when he wants to. We miss him but have been taking advantage of the girls-only days, I assure you.

15 minutes after this photo he got a haircut, by the way

8. Where's L this month? Good question! Sometimes we wonder that, too. Studying and taking finals (oh, those junior year pressures). Social life galore. Learning the guitar with her friend A. Scheming to fix up the attic in her room with paint and electricity (the previous owners dropped the ceiling and put in a drop down ladder, making her own private storage space). Getting ready for her next big adventure this summer, leaving in two days for...Tonga!  More about that soon. 

9. We were gifted with a visit from our dear friends of yore, the H family (aka the Sties) this weekend.  We were all thrilled to bask in their awesomeness for not one, not two, but three days (Maddy said "sometimes it feels like they're not just our friends, they're our cousins." True. Also, wishful thinking!)  Alas, I didn't take pictures so I'll have to wait until I can swipe some of theirs.  But it was good to get my Christie fix. I miss her. (And she left me with an awesome hostess gift, a vintage globe from a local antique shop that I have had my eye on for ages.  Seriously, she is that fantastic.)

10. We are off to Eclipse tonight. In a moment of weakness (despite knowing I am WAY too old to stay up that late) I agreed to take a car full of teens to the midnight show. I'd better go take a nap.

In the gloaming

I'm writing this from the hammock in our back yard--with wireless access!--and am feeling pretty decadent. Greg has fallen asleep on the bench on the patio, a book open and face down on his chest. Louie is keeping watch from under the bench. The kids are doing homework for tomorrow at the table inside the open door, the long weekend suddenly screeching to a halt as the realities of deadlines and assignments suddenly appear.  (School's not out until June 21st for us. Sigh.) We've made a pact to stay out here for as long as we can because once we go inside, the weekend's officially over.  Someone will want dinner or clean clothes or to talk about the 5872 things we have on the calendar this week as school slowly winds down with one recognition assembly/concert/game/event after another.

 

Yesterday afternoon, after church and naps, we decided on the spot to take a Sunday drive to Wingaersheek beach in Gloucester. We read out loud in the car up and back, flew a kite in the breeze and watched the sun set. I was so happy with our spontaneity.  And with the lovely, glowing light--the gloaming. Sometimes I look at these faces and am just smitten with motherlove.

And then sometimes, like today, we have silly + emotional showdowns in public at Subway over who owns a certain pair of earrings (+in the process the earrings end up on the floor and no one will pick them up) and the smitten-ness is tempered with a sprinkling of irritation and eye-rolling. It's a fickle pendulum, this mothering thing.  Just when you think you've got it right, you don't.

But still.  I'm dazzled. By who they are + are becoming, by my wide gaps in competence and my abundant weaknesses and occasional bursts of doing it alright, by the delicious aching laboratory these years are. Most of the time we are both kites and kiteflyers: we soar and swoop, rise and fall and we hold on to each other, hoping we all stay both aloft and anchored.  No wonder it's a tangle sometimes.

Finale

 

Post prom, day after celebrations: potluck dinner + roasting marshmallows + Roman Holiday outside

I love these kids.

They really know how to stretch out an event and milk it for all it's worth.

The end.

I promise.

And no one is more glad for the closed chapter than a certain younger sister. She's been a great sport but I can tell that L Attention Month--what with the college trips, proms + dress shopping, surgery + get-well visits--has taken its toll on the sisterly vibe.

Prommed again

L. found her dream dress in SLC over spring break + loved that it had little cap sleeves

So sweet {^ note adoring younger sister looking on in the background...}

Prom group {we were rushed and it was hard to get a shot where everyone looked good. Sorry, T (in pink)}

 D & L. They've known each other since 3rd grade + have been close friends ever since.

 On the red carpet walk

. . .

What a difference a week makes! When we scheduled L's procedure, the doctor reassured us she would be up and at 'em and at prom the next weekend.  I had my doubts but, sure enough, she was back at school on Tuesday, in her flute recital on Thursday, and at junior prom on Friday. Amazing what the body can do and heal from.

Our high school has a nice tradition of all the families gathering at the school for a red carpet procession/photo op of all of the junior prom couples, then the kids all board busses and head to the hotel for the dance. They all return for pick-up at 11:30, safe and (most of them) sound. Lauren had a wonderful evening. Now her group of friends has a whole progressive activity evening planned tonight: fun, a dinner, an outdoor movie in our yard. The girls have taken over all the planning. Is that a thing now?